KNOW WHO YOU ARE? Hiding behind a sea of emotions will keep you from growing into the person you were meant to be. Our whole purpose on this earth is to love others with complete and true love. But before we can do that, we must love ourselves. So, how is your relationship with yourself ? It’s a good idea to ponder into the deep side of you and meditate upon the mysteries of who you are, or better yet, of whom you can become. Before we can have significant and lasting relationships with others, we need to understand the person we are now and the person we can become. Break free from your inhibitions and ask yourself, “Who am I?” “What is my purpose in life?” Answer with complete truth and honesty. Then live your life off that foundation. Base your life upon who you are. Break free from your doubts and fears and be happy loving who you are. Once you love who you are, you will be totally free to love others. If our purpose on this earth is to love others, we certainly cannot truly achieve that if we are hiding inside our insecurities and not really loving ourselves. Hiding behind a sea of emotions or a certain weakness will keep us from growing into the person we were meant to be. Being afraid to love others because of being hurt in the past also keeps us from trusting others enough to love. The first step in growing out from self is to understand what your purpose, goals, ideas, and dreams in life are. Believe it or not, some folks aren’t sure what their purpose and goals in life are and live in a depressed state of aimless wondering and disillusionment. But it doesn’t have to be like that! The focus here is to grow out from self by knowing first, who we are, and then working towards the substance of who we are. Who are you? What are you? Where are you going? Why are you going? Find it, seek it, acknowledge it, know it, and go after it with gusto! It’s like a caterpillar that eventually metamorphosises into a beautiful butterfly. All of God’s creations have the ability to turn into beautiful butterflies. But not all of God’s creations will become beautiful butterflies. Why is that? A caterpillar doesn’t allow itself to be free from self. Whether it is through weakness or fear, a caterpillar must break free from what is holding it back by realising it can become a butterfly. A butterfly is free from the restraints of self. A butterfly has grown out from self and now seeks to love others with all the love it has while a caterpillar is still seeking to be loved by others. Unfortunately, many caterpillars do not know they have the ability to become butterflies and so remain in their cocoon until they die. Come out of your cocoon and become the butterfly you were always meant to become. Learn to know who you are by having a truly honest relationship with yourself. Grow out of any negativity that may be wedged within your mental and spiritual capacities. Low self-worth, fear, mistrust, insecurities, sin, and unbelief will keep you from discovering the natural and true person you really are. But when you have enough belief in God then you know He will keep you safe from those feelings that plague you or that would keep you from growing into the butterfly you were meant to be. Fearful and insecure persons hide behind negative emotions and are enveloped within a particular weakness in their life. Unbelief is a weakness. Unbelief in the Creator is the biggest and most damaging weakness a person can carry upon their shoulders. For 15 years I lived in my weakness of unbelief, which prompted me to drink, which fueled my addiction to alcohol. After becoming sober, I wallowed in negative emotions for three more years. During those years, I didn’t know how to have a relationship with myself because my relationship was with the bottle. I was rebellious to my marriage and God. My low self-esteem kept me living in a cocoon bound by a web of deceit that kept me from growing into the beautiful butterfly I was meant to become. I was afraid to grow out from self and get to know God. Please learn from my mistakes. Get to know who you are, because that is what God wants for you. Come out of hiding, all you caterpillars, and become free butterflies! (By: Angie Watkins)